Venus all smiles after straight sets win

MIAMI: Venus Williams had each and every explanation why to grin on Monday as she defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-Three 7-6(Four) to advance to the quarter-finals on the Miami Open.

Williams, who will subsequent play Angelique Kerber after the highest seed cruised through Japanese qualifier Risa Ozaki 6-2 6-2, is a three-time champion in Miami and primary performed within the event as a 16-year-old.

“I used to be nonetheless in braces, it’s been a very long time,” she stated in a post-match interview.

The 36-year-old delivered beautiful shot-making all the way through a rally on tournament level to get rid of the two times primary champion Kuznetsova.

Her subsequent opponent Kerber used to be slightly examined in her 62-minute tournament, feasting off her warring parties’ serve, whilst 2d seed Karolina Pliskova additionally reached the quarter-finals as she beat 15th-seeded Czech compatriot Barbora Strycova 6-1 6-Four. Pliskova cruised during the first set in 22 mins and appeared in a position to wrap up a snappy victory when she went forward Five-2 in the second one however Strycova discovered lifestyles past due within the tournament breaking Pliskova then keeping at love. Pliskova recovered to take the general recreation. French Open champion Garbine Muguruza retired from her tournament with Caroline Wozniacki after losing the primary set. The 6th seed took a clinical timeout after losing the primary set 7-6(1) to Wozniacki and made up our minds she used to be not able to proceed.

“I began commonplace, after which like at Three-Three or one thing like this I began to really feel headache, ache in my abdomen,” Muguruza stated. “And then it more or less went increasingly more all through the tournament. “When I used to be attending to the Five-Four, one thing like this, I began to really feel a bit bit dizzy. I feel it used to be the warmth? The warmth affected me abruptly like that.” Wozniacki has now complex to her 6th quarter-final in seven 2017 occasions. In different ladies’s fits, 3rd seed Simona Halep overcame Australian Samantha Stosur Four-6 7-Five 6-2, and previous Czech global quantity 5 Lucie Safarova beat Slovakian fourth seed Dominika Cibulkova 7-6(Five) 6-1 to succeed in the remaining 8. For unseeded Safarova, who’s at the comeback path from a bacterial an infection that hampered her for portions of the previous two seasons, the win marked her first top-10 victory since 2015.